Courthouses locked down due to armed threat

HILLSDALE — Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, security procedures for an active shooter threat were enacted at both the main county courthouse and the courthouse annex.

Officials in Branch County notified Hillsdale County authorities that they had received a telephone call 48 year old Timothy Allan Barnett, of Allen Township, who threatened to kill court officials.

It was not immediately known why Barnett made the threat, but Barnett was scheduled to appear in Hillsdale County District Court at 1 p.m. Thursday for a show-cause hearing for failing to pay fines in previous convictions of operating while intoxicated and obscene conduct.

Law enforcement officers from the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office and Hillsdale City Police Department responded to the courthouse and the annex to secure the facilities during the lock down and watch for Barnett.

Shortly after the lock down was initiated, Barnett was taken into custody at his mother’s residence on Cole Road in Allen Township on unknown charges.

The lock down shortly thereafter, with court proceedings and other county business scheduled to presume immediately.

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